Three dimensional images made holographically, called holograms, are becoming quite prevalent these days. A hologram is essentially a material composed of a plurality of layers of varying indices of refraction. These layers are designed or created such that they cause light to interfere, creating an interference pattern which forms a three-dimensional image in space.
Initially holograms were very carefully and expensively created with lasers and air-suspension tables, a process that required lasers for the holograms to be viewed as well as fabricated. These original holograms were very expensive to create and are now housed in museums. Holograms which could be read with white light made the hologram something everyone could enjoy in that a laser was no longer needed for viewing. With the advent of computer designed and fabricated white light holograms, the fabrication process was made inexpensive. White light holograms are now prevalent forms of art and color. They are commonly found on toys and cereal boxes. Active holograms are now being manufactured by fabricating some of the layers from liquid crystal materials, or other materials which can be made to alter their index of refraction by applying a voltage, or some other means.
Clothes have always been to some extent a form of art, combining color and functionality. Color is given to fabric, and to the resulting clothes, by dying the textile fibers. A dye is basically a selective absorber. The color that the clothes appears to the eye, depends on which wavelengths the fabric absorbs and which wavelengths it reflects. For example, a red fabric reflects red wavelengths and absorbs others.
By using the principles of holography and light interference and applying them to fibers that are made into fabric, clothes can be fabricated which obtain their color properties from the interference of light, instead of solely from light absorption properties. This can provide new options for colors in fabrics. By adding the option of active layers, the fibers can be fabricated to change their interference properties. By careful design these active holographic textile fibers can be fabricated into resulting displays, or other active imagery in the fabric and clothes.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide for a holographic textile fiber for use in fabric, clothing, or the like.
Accordingly, a holographic textile fiber that provides for the selective absorption and reflection of different wavelengths of light would be highly advantageous.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide for a new and improved holographic textile fiber that selectively absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light dependent upon the specific indices of refraction contained in the fiber.
It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide for a holographic textile fiber that is fabricated to include a central core and a plurality of layers of optical media, forming a multi-layer interference coating, resulting in a plurality of interference patterns.
It is a still further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved holographic textile fiber that is passive, thus stable so as to always reflect the same particular wavelength of light, which corresponds to a particular color of light, due to stable indices of refraction.
It is yet a further purpose of the present invention to provide for a new and improved holographic textile fiber that is active, thus capable of changing the wavelengths and corresponding color of light reflected, due to a change in the indices of refraction under the influence of a external voltage.
It is a still further purpose of the present invention to provide for a new and improved holographic textile fabric, including a plurality of holographic textile fibers, that in combination generate varying interference patterns resulting in varying colors, patterns and images.